“Instead
of killing us they offer to move us to the zone of complete silence,”
said Ilya Danishevsky, Chief Editor of the Vremena Publishing House.
While some may view this as a “more humane approach,” it is a fate that
writers cannot accept, he added. Danishevsky works closely with authors
who challenge the official discourse.

“We do not say the
government needs censorship to prevent us from publishing our books. One
doesn’t need to censor what does not exist,” Danishevsky said in
Russian through an interpreter.

Libya: The Chaos ContinuesLibya’s internationally recognized parliament on January 25 rejected
a unity government proposed under a UN-backed plan out of concern that
it was too large, dealing a setback to efforts to end a period of
uncertainty that has allowed the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham
(ISIS) to put down roots in the North African nation. The House of
Representatives (HoR) gave the Tunis-based governing council ten days to
come up with a shorter list of cabinet members.

A Roadmap for Europe The European Union’s unity is being tested in some significant ways.
Chief among these challenges are the United Kingdom’s potential exit—a
“Brexit”—from the EU, mediocre long-term economic prospects, an influx
of migrants that is the largest movement of people on the continent
since World War II, geopolitical threats posed by a revanchist Russia
and a Middle East in the midst of upheaval, and the task of developing a
digital roadmap that will support competitiveness and growth. Europe’s
future hinges on how it addresses all these issues.

How Do You Disrupt ISIS’ Social Media Strategy and Safeguard Freedoms?The Obama administration is “trying to come to grips with” how to
prevent terrorists from using technology as a recruiting tool, while at
the same time safeguarding individual freedoms, Adm. Michael S. Rogers,
the Commander of US Cyber Command and Director of the National Security
Agency, said at the Atlantic Council on January 21.

In
his previous role as Foreign Minister, Kvirikashvili led significant
initiatives to advance Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic and European integration
efforts. That will continue. Kvirikashvili says realizing Georgia’s
dream of EU and NATO membership will be a top priority for his
administration.

“We are not looking for shortcuts and do not
expect immediate progress in the integration process, but it is of the
utmost importance to demonstrate to our people that the process is not
stalled and that it is delivering tangible results,” Kvirikashvili said.

Obama Must Institutionalize Iran Nuclear Deal Diplomacy The United States, the European Union, and the United Nations lifted
nuclear-related sanctions on Iran on January 16 after the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) certified that Iran is in compliance with
the terms of the nuclear deal it reached with the P5+1 countries last
year.

Dealing with Iran: A Policy of Engagement and DeterrenceAs the State Department’s No. 3 official in the George W. Bush administration, R. Nicholas Burns was instrumental in negotiating sanctions to punish Iran for its nuclear program. Those sanctions were lifted
on January 16 when the International Atomic Energy Agency determined
that Iran was in compliance with the terms of the nuclear agreement it
concluded with the P5+1 countries—the United States, the United Kingdom,
France, Russia, China, and Germany—in July of 2015.

Burns, a
Harvard University professor of diplomacy who is on leave this semester
at Stanford University and an Atlantic Council board member, discussed
the opportunities and challenges presented by the Iran nuclear deal in a
phone interview with the New Atlanticist’s Ashish Kumar Sen.

Poland’s Right Turn Worries BrusselsPoland has been widely hailed as the poster child of democracy in
Eastern Europe in the decades since the collapse of communism. Is that
about to change under the ruling Law and Justice Party?

After
sweeping to power in October, the Law and Justice Party (PiS), led by
former Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczynski, has moved swiftly to tighten
controls over the civil service, the courts, and the media. This has
sparked large protests
across Poland. It has also set off alarm bells in Brussels. But there
is little the European Commission is likely to do to sanction a country
that brings considerable economic heft to the European Union and is a
key NATO partner.

US' Syria Policy 'Paralyzed' by Rhetoric that Assad Must Go, Says Hagel Former Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, thinks that the Obama
administration has become “paralyzed” by its rhetoric that Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad must step down, said budget cuts have pushed
the United States “perilously close” to being unable to maintain its
military dominance, equated the Republican presidential campaigns to an
amateur talent contest, and had some advice for Donald Trump: “focus on
uniting this country, not dividing it.”

James B. Cunningham,
a former US Ambassador to Afghanistan and current Khalilzad Chair on
Afghanistan and Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, discussed the
prospects of peace in an interview with the New Atlanticist’s Ashish Kumar Sen.

Has Turkey Become a Distraction in the War on ISIS? Turkey’s entry into the US-led coalition against the Islamic State of
Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) last summer was marked by Turkish airstrikes on
Kurdish militias—a departure from the coalition’s mission. In November, Turkey shot down a Russian jet that it said had violated its airspace. Turkey is now involved in a dispute
with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi over the presence of Turkish
troops at a base in northern Iraq. Has Turkey become a distraction in
the war on ISIS?

In Brexit Debate, David Cameron Averts Crisis. For Now.British Prime Minister David Cameron’s decision
to allow members of his cabinet to pick sides and actively campaign for
the United Kingdom to stay in or leave the European Union avoids a
split in his government and Conservative Party for now, but may not
succeed in these objectives in the long term, says the Atlantic
Council’s Fran Burwell.

Cameron has promised to hold an in/out
referendum on whether the United Kingdom should remain part of the EU.
That vote could take place as early as this summer.